Update (19/3):
PSG Esports have unveiled their new Rainbow Six Siege roster, comprised of the entirety of the former YOSHIMOTO Gaming Lamy lineup.
PSG’s new roster was previously just a single round away from qualifying for the Japan League over EVA:e during the relegation tournament. Prior to this, it won Season 1 of the Japan Open and qualified for the Japan Championship tournament.
The roster notably includes both Kota "Roccon" Nagashima and "Deelo", both of whom were a part of the YGL roster during Season 10 and 11 of the ESL Pro League in Japan. They had then finished in sixth and seventh place out of eight teams.
Original:
Ahead of the Japan League 2022 starting next week, PSG Esports have announced they have expanded into Rainbow Six Siege with an entry in the national league.
The PSG roster is currently unknown, but the official announcement stated that it would have "five Japanese players based in Kanagawa, Hokkaido, Okinawa, and Osaka".
The Japan League is the biggest national tournament in Rainbow Six by far as it serves as the core of Japan’s extensive tier-two and three scene. Last year, ¥52,000,000 (US$439,000) was on offer across the Japan League, Japan Championship, and Japan Open tournaments, with ¥32,000,000 (approximately $270,000) in guaranteed player salary on offer to all Japan League teams.
PSG Esports is a division of Paris Saint-Germain F.C., one of the biggest football teams in France.
This isn’t their first foray into esports or the APAC scene, with PSG Esports currently fielding a Thai roster in Arena of Valor, a Japanese and Singaporean player in Brawl Stars, and five FIFA players, two from France and three from China.
In addition, PSG has partnered with Talon Esports to field a "PSG Talon" team in League of Legends. It finished the 2020 and 2021 World Championships in joint-ninth.
Similarly, in DOTA 2, PSG and LGD Gaming formed PSG.LGD that finished the last three The International tournaments in the top three.
This League of Legends partnership does raise questions of a possible conflict of interest between PSG Esports and Talon Esports in Rainbow Six, with both teams potentially able to meet during the 2022 APAC North relegations. Ubisoft has yet to respond to enquiries regarding this.
Now, with the entrance of PSG, the roster has presumably been granted the league’s 10th spot, meaning they will compete against the four APAC North teams -- CAG, FAV, Fnatic, and REJECT -- as well as five challengers for the league’s APAC North relegation spots -- Crest, DONUTS, Sengoku, Zepto, and EVA:e.
PSG Esports will debut in the Japan League on March 26th. Stay tuned to SiegeGG for more information as it comes.